It's been pretty much non-stop celebration for me in the last two days because of the two impending major festivals coming up - the Winter Solstice and Christmas. And there goes my weekend because of the dining and partying. Did I really enjoy it? To be honest, not really. 'Eating, drinking, playing, merry-making' does not excite me. I particularly question the wisdom and meaning of senselessly stuffing ourselves with excessive food on certain days of the years.
In his blog published today, Justin Rowlatt of the BBC also raised a similar question. In this blog, he examined the relationship between the food we eat and the threat of a food crisis. He began by reminding those who are enjoying their Christmas dinner that one in six of the world's population will go hungry this year. He went on to point out that there are two causes of the problem. First, much of the food has been used for producing bio-fuel. Second, even more food has been used to feed the animals we eat. With the developing countries becoming richer and the world population growing, the second factor is getting increasingly more critical. The obvious problem here is that while we will need much less food if people stop eating meat, it is very difficult to get people to change their diet.
Justin Rowlatt has two reasonable suggestions: First, eat less meat. Second, actually eat the stuff you buy (rather than waste it). And here is his festive challenge:
"I want you to craft that limp carrot, half-eaten packet of cheese and the remains last night's pizza into a delicious Christmas spread. It has to be possible to rustle up something palatable... doesn't it?"
Are you ready to take it up?
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